Devil’s Tower National Monument, 1,267 feet high is located in the Black Hills, in northwest Wyoming, USA. I was driving from Mt. Rushmore to Yellowstone National Park when this laccolith appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

Lakota Sioux legend has it that several girls were out playing when attacked by bears. Climbing on the biggest rock, the girls began praying to the Great Spirit for help. Their prayers being answered, the rock began rising out of the ground, saving the children. Reaching the sky, the girls however were turned into the star constellation “Pleiades.”

Scientific explanation of how this unique natural wonder formed is inclusive as to the exact reason. Devil’s Tower was made famous by its prominent role in the 1977 Steven Spielberg movie Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.